When news broke that a Marine veteran running for U.S. Senate as a Democrat had taught military-style firearms courses to left-wing activists, many reacted in disbelief. Reddit posts revealed that Graham Platner — who’s running to try to flip the seat long held by Republican Susan Collins — not only joined the Socialist Rifle Association but even taught a “defensive handgun course” for its members. A socialist-leaning gun club training with AR-15s, and a Democrat involved, might seem downright scandalous. But as an owner of one of America’s big scary black rifles, living in the most armed developed nation in the world, with a track record of targeted right wing domestic violence, I was more surprised that anyone was surprised at all.

Why wouldn’t left-leaning Americans arm themselves? Given today’s political climate, rainbow Pride flags flying alongside rifles should hardly shock us — it feels almost inevitable. If anything, Platner didn’t break a norm; he popped the bubble. He made visible what’s already been happening in basements, back 40 ranges, and weekend classes: liberals trading in euphemisms for live fire drills, swapping slogans for training repetitions, and reclaiming the Second Amendment, which Democrats have long ceded to the right wing.

The Rise of the Lefty Gun Nut

Progressives embracing firearms is no longer a fringe curiosity; it’s a growing reality. My own existence as an armed American reflects a broader trend. A recent NBC News poll found 52 percent of American voters have a gun in their household, up from 46 percent in 2019. Notably, the share of Democrats reporting gun ownership jumped from 33 to 41 percent in that period. In other words, millions of Democratic households have added firearms in just the past few years.

The traditional image of gun owners as rural conservatives or “Duck Dynasty” caricatures is fading. Gun culture is diversifying: new gun buyers increasingly include urban liberals, LGBTQ people, and people of color who recoil at the National Rifle Association’s politics but are arming themselves for their own reasons. In my own reporting, I’ve lurched through Texas gun shows where the demographics looked more akin to that of modern American malls, and have attended Black-centered shooting events in the swamps of Florida. As a shooter and military veteran, I’m no longer shaken as my phone now regularly buzzes with texts from activists, queer family members, even mass shooting survivors shopping for their first rifle platform. This trend has been happening, even if it’s been little noticed and underrepresented.

I’ve also traipsed around firearms conventions with Nazi war memorabilia proudly on display, listened to homophobic cracks at the range, and overheard tales of racists viciously attacking a Black veteran during the

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